Monthly Archives: August 2010

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zoom-h1-pre-order
New Pre-Order Auctions

So many new product announcements this month, and still more to come. Rumors are Canon will make some really big announcements this month, maybe in a few days, regarding new camera lineups. I'm excited for that, but who knows if it's going to be products that are as affordable as the Canon T2i. There is supposedly rumors of a Canon 60D, which will sit in the middle of the T2i and 7D. Not sure what features would make this Canon 60D fall 'in between', the video features of the T2i are already so close to the 7D. It's possible it could be more Photography enhanced features.

The Zoom H1 is 'supposed' to be released in 3 days, but there's been a lot of speculation. I've emailed Samson a few times and they've always nailed down the August 20th release date. Even if it is released by August 20th, it will be a rare item to find 'in stock'. There's a new auction on eBay taking pre-orders for this item and there are quite a bit of sales. I can't wait to start testing this with different LAV microphones. Certain times the whole Wireless LAV setup is overkill, more expensive, requires extra gear, and possibility for more things to go wrong. There are many situations where this tiny recorder could be mounted as a body pack for getting close up quality audio from your subject. I placed my order long long ago, but we'll see what comes about in the next 3 days......

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lens-comparisons-canon-sigma-tamron

About 2 months ago JJ @ OrangeWeddingFilms.com posted a video stating he was going to put together a test between the Canon 24-70mm F/2.8, Sigma 24-70mm F/2.8, and the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 in Video use. Looks like he's posted a few first samples just yesterday and in some cases you do see difference in Contrast, color, and sharpness. I personally like the Canon 24-70mm F/2.8, but if you're happy with the results, you can save a bit of money on the other non Canon brands. Here's the break down on lenses, prices, and what you're comparing.

First up Canon 24-70mm F/2.8 Wide Telephoto priced at approx $1349.00
canon-24-70mm
click image to find at bhphotovideo.com

Second Lens is the Sigma 24-70mm F/2.8 Macro priced at approx $569.00
sigma-24-70mm
click image to find at bhphotovideo.com

Third Lens in the test is the Tamron Zoom Wide Angle-Telephoto AF 28-75mm f/2.8 priced at $499.00
tamron-28-75mm
click image to find at bhphotovideo.com

To follow up on his first review against these lenses, i've owned them all at one point. I still have the Canon 24-70mm F/2.8. Sigma makes some really great lenses, I still rock my Sigma 20mm all the time. I started with the Sigma 24-70mm F/2.8 before my Canon L, using it for photography. Compared to the Canon it was slower on auto focus, more noise when focusing, and problems with communication when using Infrared metering from my Speedlite. This is when I upgraded to the Canon 24-70mm F/2.8 L. The Sigma 24-70mm F/2.8 of course is half the price of the Canon 24-70mm, so if you're looking for a strictly Video lens with this range, all these quirks might not be a problem for you. If you're a hybrid shooter of both Photo and Video, you'll get better performance and image quality from the Canon.

I'm not going to get deep into the Tamron lens, I love Tamron lenses like my 18-270mm as my travel lens choice, but if you're going to be dealing with the weather, this is where the Canon 24-70mm L lens proves it's worth. Many of the cheaper lenses provide decent image quality at an affordable price, but lack the weather sealing, quiet motor, and fast autofocus. I had problems with an earlier lens (I won't mention any brands) shooting in light fog which crept into my lens and pretty much ruined it with moisture from the inside. Again, if you're just doing strictly video and not worried about auto focus noise & weather, you'll find great deals in the Sigma and Tamron brands, and also Tokina which isn't part of this test because they don't have a lens available in this range.

Update: Just confirmed with JJ that his test was using the older Sigma 24-70mm F/2.8. There is another more silent and higher end 24-70mm F/2.8 HSM priced at about $899.00 from Sigma that has not been tested. This is said to be a close rival to the Canon 24-70mm F/2.8.
sigma-24-70-hsm
click image to find at bhphotovideo.com

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igus-carrier-diy-slider
Now available at Amazon.com - click image

Igus is the manufacturer of the popular Drylin W Linear Guide rail. Linear guide rails are seen in robotics and manufacturing type machines and associated with lube and grease, not good for cameras. This design uses 'Dry Bearings' so it was natural that this rail exploded onto the DSLR Video scene as one of the most widely used rails for DIY camera sliders AND by actual retailers of Camera sliders. From what many are saying, the early adopters for this rail call this the 'ZaZa Slider' and you'll find a group on Vimeo from people making it from Igus rails.

You can see this same basic rail design in Glidetrack, Kessler, and others. When I first created my DIY Camera slider, I had to call IGUS in Ireland, figure out the exact parts I needed, and have it shipped from overseas. Looks like so many camera manufacturers have been using their rail, Igus is now hip to DSLR video, and they are now posting an item at Amazon.com specifically as a 'Camera slider'. The nice thing in this image is the new side clamp on the carrier designed to lock the carrier in place. I was using old hand clamps to keep mine from shifting as I was transporting.

You can check out my DIY Slider in this video to see what this whole thing looks like put together. There was a bit of drilling needed to get the rail onto the tripod, and a bit of drilling to get the Fluid head onto the Igus Carrier, but very easy material to work with. Take my advice and don't get 4 feet of rail. It's nice and fun, but soooo long it's akward to carry it around. You'll be better off with 2 feet, 3 feet MAX. Well thanks to Igus, it looks like they are making things a bit more streamlined for us DIY'ers interested in building our own camera slider with a straight purchase to the complete set. Below is a link to the most popular one they are saying, but here's a link to More Igus Camera Slider Rails.

Product Description
Modular DryLin® W linear guides ensure a smooth, lubrication-free gliding motion for camera slider systems. Used by manufacturers of high-quality, complete systems, as well as individual DIY video enthusiasts seeking individual components for camera dollies and camera slider assemblies.

Our most popular camera slider size. Includes 1,000mm-long guide rail (39.4") with 9 holes evenly spaced and a 100mm-long carriage plate. Carriage plate features 4 low-friction plastic bearings for smooth and quiet operation, as well as extra bolts to prevent misalignment.

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canon-macro-flash
Canon MR-14EX TTL Macro Ring Flash

So friend of mine recently picked up a T2i only for Photography and no interest in Video. Most of the shots he's been sharing is all related to close up nature / macro type images. There's several things he can probably improve upon such as shutter speed, aperture, and ISO settings, but he's learning. Another great item to really boost the color, focus, and sharpness with Macro photography is Flash Lighting. Macro flashes are designed to throw the light evenly around a small subject providing almost shadowless lighting. Of course you have to be pretty serious about Macro photography before you getting into the flashes, as the good ones like the Canon MF-14EX TTL (above) will easily run you over $400 dollars.

ray-ring-macro-flash
Ray Flash Ring Adapter

If you want to go a bit cheaper with off the shelf gear, there are some options such as the Ray Ring flash adapter that bend the light from your normal Speedlite. This item sits over your existing Flash. The Ray Ring will still run you about $199.95. There's obviously clones to everything these days and you can find Ray Ring Flash clones (probably not the same build quality) called O flashes for around $32.00 dollars (below).

ebay-ray-ring-flash
O Flash Macro Ring Light

If you're on the cheap cheap like me, this all reminded me of that very old DIY Ring-Flash article and got me inspired to try my hand at it. I'm sure he's not ready to dish out quite so much money, so maybe I can whip something up for him to get better photos on the cheap. This thing looks pretty effective.

diy-macro-flash-ringdiy-ring-flash-macro
click images to jump to the article

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photo 1photo 2
photo 3photo 4

Oh yeah, i'm a Canon guy through and through, but I got a thing for toys. Just received the Nikon Telephoto Zoom Lens 24-70mm Stainless Steel mug and my friends are already drooling over it. It's quite nice, and gives me an idea for what some of these less fortunate Nikon shooting friends of mine would receive for Christmas or Birthdays. As far as shipping goes for this product, HOLY COW that was fast. I'm normally waiting weeks and weeks to get stuff like this in, but this one came in very quickly. Big ups to this Seller of Souvenir Canon and Nikon mugs, definitely a store to order from. I'll get home and take some nice up close macro product shots to share tonight.

nikon-coffee-mug-telephoto
lens-mug-carrying-bag
click image

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canon-nikon-sony-eyecup-upgrades
click image

Opening up a new article here, hopefully we'll get some comments in that will provide for anyone seeking information on upgrading to these DSLR Eyecups. This blog has really expanded to include a 'Woot' & 'Yahoo Answers' type model, so i'm trying to include different posts and keep things interesting. I'm seeing more Photographers upgrading their standard Eyecups to these DSLR Eyecup Upgrades. It does look very comfortable for landscape shots, I personally don't use these and wonder how comfortable they would be flipping into Portrait mode. There's also magnified versions available that supposedly give you a better view through the glass viewfinder. Starting at only $2.99 + Free shipping, I guess I can always order and see for myself.

Has anyone been using these items?
How comfortable are they?
Which version of this do you have?

There's also some information circling about these Magnified DSLR Eyepiece / Eyecups that take a note from LCD Viewfinders and magnify the image to give you a better field of view and possibly sharper focus. The most popular brand name coming around is Tenpa.

tenpa-eyecup
tenpa-eyecup-eyepiece
click image

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transcend-32GB-400x
click image to buy from BHPHOTOVIDEO.com

Well i'm sold on the Transcend 400x cards I just received last week. I purchased (4) 32GB cards with next day air because I knew I would need the space. I was only supposed to test these out, but this was a lifesaver, as I ran super low on available disk space and fell back onto these for all three days. They all performed without a hiccup, fast and reliable. I shot, dumped, formatted, shot dumped formatted, shot dumped formatted all three different days and they all still performed without a problem.

z96-dimmable-dslr-video-light
click to find Z96 Dimmable DSLR Video Light

Another piece of gear that performed pefectly was that Z96 Dimmable DSLR LED Video light. I'm still getting quite a bit of questions about it on each event. It's still so new I guess and not many people are seeing these in use. There was a photographer on site trying to get a decent shot of a beautiful wedding cake, but the flash wasn't really giving the best look with the dark ambient. With two LED light panels positioned high on each side, the photographer was able to shoot with a decent ISO giving a more natural look to the cake. Another good example of using these Z96 LED Video lights over flash, especially since these high end DSLR's do much better with ISO noise. You couple that with the new Noise Reduction filters on Lightroom 3 and you've got a better natural image than that of with flash. One set of Sanyo Eneloop Rechargeable batteries in these Z96's are all it takes for a full day of shooting.

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double-strap-q-strap
rapid-double-strap
handstrap-double-camera-strap

After this weekend, i'm thinking of adding a few items to speed up my dynamic workflow. I go from handheld, to monopod, to tripod, to Steadicam, to slider, to dolly, etc. Things have to be fast and things have to work together. I need a strap to carry two cameras, I need this to disconnect if I move to handheld, and I need this to adapt to the different rigs very quickly. Here's some accessories of what i'm dreaming up now that might work best for my type of shooting.

Similar form to the Black Rapid Double Camera strap, but with alot more function, here's the Q-Strap several people have been telling me about after I posted about a BlackRapid clone. Looks like those BlackRapid clones have dissappeared, but this Q-Strap (not R-Strap) is readily avaiable and seems to have improved on the mounting design. Although i'm a big fan of the solid mounting clip of the BlackRapids, one of the shortcomings is that you can't quickly get your camera back to Tripod, or if you want to dismount and go handheld there's no option for that Camera Hand Strap. Here's where the Q-strap is forward thinking. Using a different mounting plate, it has an attachment area to keep a Camera Hand Strap on at all times. Secondly, it still maintains a standard Tripod mount thread, would be perfect for a Manfrotto 394 Quick Release Plate to stay on for some fast Tripod Mount options. So i'm thinking about going this route and dumping off my OG BlackRapid strap with this new Q-Strap configuration.

First the Q-Strap:
double-strap-q-strap

Second the Camera Hand Strap:
camera-hand-strap

Third the Manfrotto 394 Quick Release Plate:
manfrotto-394-quick-release

In my head this combination is all working out great, giving me great flexibility with my gear moving from harness strap, to handheld strap, to tripod mount, steadicam mount very very quickly without having to screw/unscrew anything - just clip clip clip. As suggested by one of the readers, by using the Manfrotto 394 quick release plate on top of my 717AH should also make things quick for me while saving big bucks on a decent fluid head.

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It's been a really really crazy weekend for me, so I didn't have time to sit and update the website with much. I had video shoots all three days from morning till late late night. Oddly most of these events required some Steadicam work and with my HD4000 rig built out, I was beat... On the plus side I got to shoot a few new things i've never done before, so it was a great learning experience and i'm trying to jot down everything I need to brush up on. I even got to play camera man for a Craigslist Foundation in Berkeley, and interviewed Craig N. himself. With my Steadicam gear on the first thing he said to me was:

'You're not a Cyborg from Skynet sent here to kill me are you?'

Quite a character that Craig is. So because I was flooded with tons of comments and questions, things got lost pretty quick. I apologize if I didn't respond to anyone, and in case things get lost, please send in those comments or questions again. I'm back online and should be able to answer them.

-Emm